Characters
Introducing the characters of Faster than a Kiss! Main Characters *'Kaji Fumino (梶文乃)': Fumino is the female protagonist of the story. She is a 16-year-old student at Kumaneko High School and Kazuma's wife. Initially, she is referred to as a delinquent in the story because she often gets into fights with them while standing up for others. However, this perception gradually changes as she starts opening up more to the people around her. She has a strong personality and sometimes loses her temper, but is stubbornly loyal and incredibly caring when it comes to those she loves. Her parents died in a car accident in her first year of high school and she was forced to grow up faster to protect her little brother from the vicious gossip surrounding their parents. As a result, she is more mature and practical than others her age. However, she lacks household skills and is terrible at cooking, She "secretly" (though Kazuma found out about it on the first day) works in one of Retsu's construction buildings when she needs allowance, the first time to buy Kazuma a birthday present, and the second to buy Christmas presents for Kazuma and Teppei. Fumino's grades are quite good, with the exception of English, though originally her classmates thought that she was a poor student because she frequently fell asleep inclass. She starts taking an interest in English after Kazuma -her English teacher- prods her to work on her English skills, which eventually causes her to start considering studying the language more seriously. She eventually decides to pursue high education in English. Fumino loves and treasures Teppei and Kazuma very much. *'Ojiro Kazuma (尾白一馬)': A 24-year-old English teacher who teaches at Kumaneko High School, Kazuma is described as a "plain, glasses-wearing English teacher." Kazuma is the only one who looked for Fumino when she ran away and ended up marrying her, supposedly only to help her and Teppei. He is sometimes goofy and says he appreciates seeing Fumino's rare smile. He asks Fumino to help him with problematic students because of her strong personality, although he is a teacher and that isn't her responsibility. He has a calm and caring demeanor, and cares for young Teppei more than Fumino does (according to her). He often gives Teppei candy for his hard work or just for being cute. Kazuma cooks for the family and usually sleeps much later than the rest of his family because of his dedication to teaching. Kazuma has numerous costumes for both Teppei and Fumino to wear, and often dresses them up for cosplay. Even though they are married, Fumino and Kazuma sleep separately. He occasionally sleeps in Fumino's room, but only next to Teppei. Kazuma isn't open about his past, but later in the story, it is revealed that Kazuma was once in a gang. According to his old "gang" friends, he was called Jigoku no Mā-kun (地獄のまーくん?, Mā-kun from Hell) because he beat up 100 motorcycle gang members without getting a single scratch. Towards the end, Fumino finds out that Kazuma didn't submit the marriage registration form. Fumino avoids Kazuma for a while but they get back together. Kazuma is transferred to a different school on a remote Island due to his father's orders. In the last chapter, they get married. *'Kaji Teppei (梶鉄兵)': Fumino's 4 year old brother. Teppei has a bright and caring personality, and he does his best to make sure the people around him are happy. Teppei views Kazuma as a brother or a father figure. Kazuma often gives Teppei candy for his hard work, or just simply for being cute. Though still very young, he often tries to defend his sister when anyone bullies her. This is shown when Shōma was criticizing her; Teppei defends her by punching him in the leg and saying, "Shō-chan, you bullied Bun-chan/Buncha" with his fists balled up in anger. He is also very perceptive. The Ojiro Family *'Ojiro Shōma (尾白翔馬)': Shōma is Kazuma's younger brother. He is also a student at Kumaneko High School, in the same year as Fumino. He's very popular among the girls at school and is known as the "Ice Prince" due to his cold and somewhat rude attitue. Shōma first saw Fumino while she was changing for a play (in her underwear with a short-hair wig on and holding male clothing) and assumed that she was a cross-dressing male. He realizes his mistake after seeing her in normal school attire the following day. Shōma and Kazuma have different mothers and though they are brothers, they initially speak with cold formality. Shōma, having taken over Kazuma's responsibilities after he left the family, insult Kazuma for becoming a teacher, claiming that it's below his social status. Shōma reveals himself to become a tsundere and actually quite attached to his older brother, though he doesn't know how to express it. He believed that his brother left the family so that he, the son of the second wife, could inherit a place in society, and he blamed himself for his brother becoming a teacher. After he talks this out with Kazuma, the brothers' relationship improves rapidly after Shōma doesn't know when Kazuma's birthday is, as it is not celebrated in the Ojiro household. *'Ojiro Emma (尾白エマ)': Shōma's mother and Kazuma's stepmother. It is revealed that Emma was scared of the existence of her husband's former family and that this doubt caused her to initially shut Kazuma out. She realized her ignorance after Kazuma saved Shōta, who had fallen unconscious in the woods due to a high fever, but Kazuma had told her not to tell Shōta that he'd saved him, because "I don't see you people as family". They reconcile when they meet in the current timeline, 8 years later, where she apologizes and tells him she's always regretted how she treated him. *'Ojiro Touma (尾白冬馬)': Head of the Ojiro family and the father of Shōma and Kazuma. He cuts off all family ties with Kazuma after a year of his delinquency. He sends his secretary, Sasa-san, to let Kazuma know that he is being disowned and that his younger brother Shōma will be assuming the position of heir to the Ojiro family. He is also the man that sends Shōma to Kazuma, asking him to "take a look" at how miserable Kazuma's life is after he was disowned. The Kaji Family *'Kaji Tomoyuki (梶智之)': Appeared in chapter 22, Tomoyuki made his first appearance through a voice message in his father's answering machine. He indicated in his message that he wishes to take care of Fumino and Teppei since his work has become less busy. It is revealed in chapter 23 that he is the younger brother of Fumino and Teppei's father, and is therefore Fumino's uncle. He wanted to take away Fumino and Teppei from Kazuma so that the secret of their marriage will not be revealed. Tomoyuki forces Fumino and Teppei to leave Kazuma's apartment and live with him. He believes that Fumino and Kazuma will grow apart since they won't be seeing each other as often. He is relatively short for a guy and has a slim build, and he's extremely baby-faced; He looks as if he's still in high school even though he is 28 years old. Fumino has stated that she has spent time with him since she was a little girl, and in all the time that she's known him, his face hasn't changed. Despite his appearance, he is very strong, and is something of a legendary Judo practitioner. *'Grandfather Kaji': He is Fumino's grandfather from her father's side of the family. He had cut off all ties with Fumino at the funeral of her parents but made up with her in Chapter 22. Seems to be attached to Teppei and gives him lots of presents. Friends *'Ryūu Shindō (進藤龍)': A happy-go-lucky guy who is Kazuma's best friend as well as his neighbor. He is also Teppei's kindergarten teacher and is one of the few people who know about Kazuma and Fumino's marriage. Ryū takes care of Teppei a great deal (while Kazuma and Fumino are being lovey-dovey), and also poses as Fumino's distant relation and guardian, which is their official lie to conceal the relationship between the two. He also tells Fumino about Kazuma's past. In one chapter, Ryū shows Fumino a picture of Kazuma and himself back in high school. Kazuma's face looks dark and demonic in the picture and he had long hair with insane demonic eyes. He added that Kazuma beat up the cameraman after taking the picture. Ryū also helps Fumino dress sexy for Kazuma. How he managed to have women's lingerie is a mystery but it was revealed that he previously worked as a host in a club. *'Ken Kurosawa (黒沢健)': He is one of Fumino's classmates and has a crush on her. Although Ken doesn't know that Kazuma and Fumino are married, he originally sees them together hugging, when Kazuma was telling Fumino that her life was more important than their marriage ring. He later walks in on them right when they were about to kiss after Kazuma had whisked Fumino away into a classroom to watch the festival's fireworks together. Also, when he confessed his love to Fumino, Kazuma steps in. *'Higuma Retsu (火熊烈)': The third generation of the Higuma Gang, Retsu is Kazuma's old friend. He gave Kazuma pudding as an apology for his men because they kidnapped Fumino without realizing that she is Kazuma's wife. When he invites Fumino to his home so that he can apologize again, he tells her that she is stupid for believing that he is a good person. Kazuma then busts into the scene, kicking Retsu in the face and causing his nose to bleed. It is revealed he was just joking around with Fumino and is actually a nice person. He is known as "The Pudding Person" *'Margaret "Meg" Denton': One of the students of Kumaneko High School. She's 17 years old. She recently transferred there from overseas. She is the daughter of a hotel mogul. She also constantly hitting on Kazuma. It is implied that she was only doing so because she wanted to make Shōma jealous or show a reaction. She was "bullying" Fumino when she first arrived, but eventually became friends with her. She gives Fumino a makeover for a date with Kazuma At the end of chapter 19, she told Shōma that she would be leaving for America to marry someone that her father chose for her, but she didn't want that because she was really in love with him (Shōma). So she stayed in Japan with him. Even though she is supposedly dating Shōma, but had confronted him in chapter 35 for having feelings for Fumino. Later, on a study session in library with Fumino and Shōma, Meg witnessed Shōma kissing Fumino. *'Utsuki Tomoe (空木トモエ)': Tomoe-chan is one of Tomoyuki's student from his time in France. Tomoe has a crush on Tomoyuki and wishes to become his wife. Six years before the current timeline, Tomoyuki jokingly made a promise to the 12-year old her when she first started learning, saying that if she managed to pin him on his back by any means, then he would marry her. Although Tomoyuki meant this as a joke and didn't take it seriously, Tomoe took the challenge very seriously and has since attempted to floor Tomoyuki many times in order to become his bride. Tomoyuki only sees her as his important student. She, like Tomoyuki, is baby-faced and is revealed to actually be 18 years old despite looking younger than 16 year-old Fumino. She first appears in chapter 25. *'Oka-chan (岡、'おか'): '''Sweet, sensitive and frequently picked on by the guys who like her. She is normally soft-spoken, but won't tolerate anyone saying bad things about her friends. She is deeply loyal. *'Sayo-chan (小夜、'さよ'): Athletic, smart, and with a sharp tongue, but cares for her friends and always has their backs. Level-minded but approaches all problems with the same thought process, regardless of how ridiculous the problem may be. *'''Hanai-chan (花井、はない')': Loyal like the other two and always looks out for them. She appears to be the most practical of the three and always helps the others solve their problems.